U.S. Embassy Message: H1N1 Influenza A

H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Update from the U.S. Embassy

July 2, 2009

“Argentina’s health ministry reported more than 1,500 confirmed cases of H1N1 Influenza, including 26 deaths, as of June 26, its last release of statistics.  Media reports place the number of deaths at 44 as of July 1, 2009, with higher numbers of confirmed cases as well.  [However, most are suspicious that the government has not been forthcoming in its statistics, especially after these drastic measures have been taken.]  Most school districts have extended school vacations, some to as long as a month.  Two of Argentina’s largest districts, the Province of Buenos Aires and the city of Buenos Aires, have declared administrative health emergencies and are recommending avoiding large congregations of people. Other measures instituted to control the spread of H1N1 include a requirement that travelers entering Argentina complete health cards with local contact information, don provided surgical masks when disembarking their flights, and pass in front of sensors that track body temperature in transportation terminals.  Some flights also may be disinfected with spray prior to landing.”

So, what does this mean for us?  Since they cancelled school for the rest of July and are recommending that the children stay at home, we decided to cancel our Winter Vacation Bible School.  It would be better to follow the government’s suggestions and not put our people or other people’s children at risk.  Two sister churches have decided to cancel all church activities for the rest of the month except for one Sunday service per week.  There are two big youth conferences scheduled the last week of July, and we have not yet heard if they will proceed with those or not.  If the number of cases do not decrease substantially, the schools will remain closed into the month of August.  This may put the MBBC mission team’s activities/concerts at risk.  We already have three concerts scheduled here in Pilar – one at a secular music school, one at our church, and one at a local private school.  Please pray for God’s will to be done.  Please pray for physical and spiritual healing in this land.

- James & Amy

Prayer Letter - July 1, 2009

Praise the Lord for answered prayer! We were finally able to rent the building we have been looking at for the past six months! It is in an ideal location in the heart of Pilar. It is a larger facility than what we had before with classroom space. We have been busy knocking down walls, cleaning, painting, and getting moved in. Click here to see pictures of the renovation progress.

Our first service is July 1, and then we’ll hold special services on Sunday, July 5. Please pray for the evangelistic outreach July 5, as we go out to the plaza to share the Gospel, pass out tracts, and invite people to church.

The Lord has given Amy amazing opportunities to share the Gospel through English classes in our home. The little boy pictured below, Patricio, is a beginner student this year. The Lord gave an open door, and Amy talked with him about his need for a Savior. Patricio put his faith in Christ that day! Please pray for his spiritual growth.

Another amazing witnessing opportunity was with Amy’s student Carola, a neonatal doctor. This week Amy talked with her for over an hour about Christ. She is one of the 80% of the disillusioned Catholics in this country. She said she would like to study about the Bible in our English class!

Andrea Love, our eight-week summer intern, arrived June 24 and has been a huge help already. She is helping with homeschool, teaching piano as well as English, playing piano for the church, leading a Bible study in English, and helping at the church building. We are privileged to have her with us! We would love to have a young lady here full time doing exactly what she is doing. Click here to see some highlights of her ministry here.

Prayer Requests

• Salvation of Carola
• Evangelistic outreaches this month
• Current support – 95%
• Permanent pastor for the work in the city center
• Wisdom and God’s power as we reach our neighborhood for Christ

Praises

• A larger meeting place with classroom space
• Salvation of Patricio
• Growing number of faithful men in the church
• Discipleship classes with Pablo, Fabio Alejandro, Virginia, Veronica, and Andrea
• God’s continual, miraculous provision

Progress!

Here is a photo album of the work that we have accomplished so far on the new building. This week we removed most of the wall and welded in a new beam so we can remove the rest (supporting section) of the wall. This will be the main auditorium area. Our summer intern, Andrea Love, painted two rooms. A painter in the church started painting the front of the building. All the kids took on the task of cleaning up the backyard - they love the demolition part!

Please pray that we will be able to at least get the auditorium ready for Sunday services. We are "officially" moving in to the new building July 1. This Sunday, July 5, we will have our normal Sunday service, and then a special evangelistic service Sunday evening.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

These nine fathers shown here are nine of the ten men at Iglesia Bautista Independiente this Sunday. We are very much encouraged to have such a strong showing of men who desire to be a part of this new work.

Saturday was demoliton day at the new building. The men took out most of the wall to open the space. It's not nearly as easy as it looks on those home improvement shows on television. We found that out quickly when the man who's standing on the piece of wall in the back almost had a huge piece of the wood ceiling fall on top of him! Praise the Lord for His protection!

Please pray for us as we continue the work. We need to be out of the other building June 30 and will have our first service in the new building July 1. On Sunday, July 5 we are planning on our first big outreach.

Update

Pilar Centro

We had a great service Sunday morning (6/14) with a total of 26. It is so encouraging that a majority of these folks are families. (Last week there were 8 husbands there.) One husband usually comes alone, but after a good counseling session the day before, his wife and son joined him for the first time in several months! Please pray for the Lord to strengthen Fabio and Carina's marriage.

The people are excited and energized, as well as relieved, to have possession of the new church building. James and a few men will begin some of the renovations this week, and then on Saturday we will have our first church-wide workday and a planning meeting. We have lots of ideas for finally beginning formal evangelism, but we want to make sure it's not just a program, but true effective outreach to the lost of Pilar.

Pilar Nuevo

Saturday night we invited a new convert, Pablo, and his family over for dinner. Pablo has been growing by leaps and bounds in his weekly discipleship with James. What a joy!

They live in another gated community here in Pilar. Our prayer is that we could begin evangelism in not just our neighborhood, but others as well. Making contacts "behind the gates" is the best way to get into these communities.

New Church Building

Building Update

Here is the "before signing" picture

Here is the "after signing" picture

After several months of looking, praying, making offers, having offers rejected, revising contracts, and the emotional roller coaster of it all, the Lord finally allowed us to sign a rental contract on a new church building today!

Now the work of taking down walls, painting, cleaning, and moving can begin! We are so excited to be at this point. We can finally:

• print an address on our tracts
• hold large public meetings
• have children's church in the same building as the adults
• have a class for children on Wednesday nights
• invite more people to church
• and ultimately, see growth!!

Please pray that GOD will give the increase! Thank you for your faithful prayers all along the way of this journey.

Special Speaker

Tonight we had a special speaker for our Wednesday evening service, Dr. Brian Carruthers. (I thought "Greenwood" was difficult to pronounce in Spanish, but try saying all those r's in his last name!) Dr. Carruthers is Dean of the School of Education at our alma mater, Bob Jones University. He, along with his wife and two of his daughters, is in Buenos Aires to teach a seminary class at a sister church. He gave a very timely and necessary devotional, while James translated.

One burden that we were able to share with Dr. Carruthers is the need for single missionary teachers. We have continual requests for English as a Second Language classes, and cannot keep up with the demand. We would love for an education major to commit to one year to live here and teach ESL as an evangelistic tool as well as help Amy out with homeschooling the kids. If you or someone you know would be interested in this type of position, please contact us.

El Puente de Dios

June Prayer Letter

The Long Journey

For more than six months, we have been praying and searching for a larger church building with classroom space.  As we hit one roadblock after another, we fell back on God’s provision and timing, especially when those things were completely out of our control.  It seems we are going to be able to rent a building on a main avenue with a meeting place for 60 adults and classroom space for a nursery and children’s church.  Please keep praying, and we’ll keep you updated!

 

A New Addition

Thank you for all those who prayed for the baby shower Amy hosted for our Christian neighbor and friend, Andrea.  The purpose of the shower was two fold: 1.) We wanted to show support of Andrea and her husband Alejandro. They are good friends and instrumental in the church plant in the city center as well as the evangelistic efforts here in our neighborhood. 2.) We wanted to use the opportunity to invite Andrea's unsaved family members and coworkers to our home where we could share the Gospel.

The Lord did bless our efforts and time together. The ladies really enjoyed themselves; Andrea was assured of our love and support; and four unsaved ladies heard the Gospel presented (some for the first time). Please pray for the Holy Spirit to remind them of what they heard and to convict their hearts.

One week after the shower, the Lord blessed this dear couple with a healthy baby girl, Constanza Belén - the first baby born in our new church!  (Now we just need a nursery to put her in when she’s old enough to come to church!)   

Click here to see pictures of the shower and the new arrival.

 

More Love in our Home

One of the highlights of being missionaries is hosting guests, especially enthusiastic Americans.  We, as a family, love to share our burden for Argentina as well as our love for the people to whom God has called us to minister.  We are privileged to host Andrea Love, the daughter of pastor friend Mark Love, for eight weeks.  She first came to Buenos Aires last year on a Maranatha Baptist Bible College mission team.  During her time with us, Andrea will assist in almost every aspect of the church-planting ministry, helping with ESL classes and homeschool, teaching piano, leading a Bible study in English, and learning Spanish.

 

Prayer Requests

·    Current Support – 95%

·    A larger meeting place with classroom space

·    Permanent pastor for the work in the city center

·    Wisdom and God’s power as we reach our neighborhood for Christ

Praises

·    All who heard the Gospel at the baby shower

·    Safe and healthy arrival of Constanza

·    Discipleship classes

·    God’s continual, miraculous provision

Upcoming Events

·    Tentative – sign contract on new building and start remodeling

·    June 21 – Father’s Day

·    June 24 – Summer intern, Andrea Love, arrives